Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I had no idea what my parents discussed with Sister Xianglan. By the time my friends came around, winking and teasing me about becoming Zhao Qingzhu’s wife, my family had already purchased everything and were just waiting to bring Sister Xianglan through our doors.

I had a rough idea of what it meant to be someone’s wife. Just like my parents, it meant eating from the same pot and sleeping in the same room. When Mother got mad, Father would have to coax her, and once she was happy again, they could make babies like my older brother and me. But I was only twelve-still a child myself! I didn’t want to be anyone’s mother.

Pale with fright, I went to find Zhao Qingzhu. Seeing me on the verge of tears, he asked softly, “Do you hate me that much? Would it not be enough if I treated you well for the rest of my life?”

His face was slightly flushed and his eyes were remarkably earnest. It made me hesitate. “The rest of my life?” I asked quietly to confirm. “Like how my father treats my mother?”

He nodded emphatically. “Yes, just like Uncle and Aunt. As long as your brother treats my sister well, I will treat you a thousand times better.”

So it was all for Sister Xianglan. In that case, I believed him. Since we were going to spend our lives together, I couldn’t hold back a question I had been curious about for a long time: “Zhao Qingzhu, why are you so determined to study? None of the others study. Honestly, if you just stopped, Sister Xianglan wouldn’t have to suffer such a bitter life.”

“Because ‘within books lies a House of Gold’. I want to walk out of this place, and take Elder Sister with me. Liu Ya, I didn’t agree to this so your family would provide for me. I agreed because your brother passed my test. I might be able to find Elder Sister a very wealthy family in the future, but I wouldn’t necessarily find someone as sincere. For that reason alone, I will take your family with me when we walk out of here.”

The way his face seemed to glow under the sun that day stuck in my memory for a long time. Excitement bubbled within me as I circled around him. “Walk out of here? Do you mean going to the County Seat? If we lived in the County Seat, could I dress up beautifully like the girls in the city?”

The county town was so far away. In my entire life, my parents had only taken me there once. Even then, Mother told me how lucky I was. When she was a girl, her parents hadn’t taken her until right before she married, just to buy a copper hairpin for her dowry. Mother had secretly told me she was saving that hairpin for me as a keepsake, and she would buy a new one for Sister Xianglan.

I was ten when we went, and even though two years had passed, I still remembered it vividly. The city streets were so clean, and wonderful scents wafted from the shop fronts. If I lingered for even a moment, Mother would tug me away, warning that we’d be scolded for disturbing the merchants’ business. Yet, little girls my age, dressed in lovely shades of pink, dared to hold their families’ hands and walk right inside.

I babbled on excitedly, but Zhao Qingzhu’s expression went completely blank. He stood stunned for a long while before bursting into laughter. It was a genuine, childish laugh-the kind kids our age shared-and it was a rare sight on his face. Usually, he acted just like he had a moment ago: an old soul trapped in a child’s body, putting on the airs of a little adult.

When he finished laughing, he ran back to his room, retrieved a book, and handed it to me. “Our Ya’er is so smart,” he said. “But you have to eat your food one bite at a time. Alright, we’ll aim for the County Seat first. But before we go, you have to master this book, okay? All the girls in the city know how to read.”